(b Vercelli, 1477; d Siena, 15 Feb 1549). Italian painter. He worked mainly in Siena and was the dominant painter of the Sienese school in the early 16th century. He painted frescoes, altarpieces and panel paintings for private collectors; he was patronized by religious institutions, the civic authorities in Siena and by noble patrons. His art unites the vivid and detailed naturalism of a northern Italian artistic tradition with a new spaciousness and classical sense of form that reflects his study of the art of central Italy. He had little competition in Siena, where his only rival, in his later years, was Domenico Beccafumi. He was a flamboyant and eccentric personality, whose character was later blackened by Vasari.

• Sodoma
  • Gay and lesbian art, §1: Questions of identity, before the 1890s
  • Raphael, §I, 1(iii)(a): Paintings and drawings: Works for the Vatican Palace, 1508–20
  • Siena, §II: Art life and organization
  • Siena, §III, 3(ii)(a): Palazzo Pubblico decoration: Introduction
  • attributions
    • Salmeggia, Enea
  • patrons and collectors
    • Chigi: (1) Agostino Chigi (i)
    • Perugino, §I, 5: Life and work, 1500–23
    • Rovere, della (i): (2) Pope Julius II
  • pupils
    • Neroni, Bartolommeo
    • Rustici
    • Tamagni, Vincenzo
  • teachers
    • Spanzotti, Giovanni Martino
  • works
    • Ekphrasis, §4: Ekphrasis in the Renaissance West
    • Erotic art, §I, 2(ii): Western world, c 1500–c 1700
    • Pisa, §III, 1(iii): Cathedral complex: Painting
    • Portraiture, §I: Problems of definition
    • Rome, §V, 14(iii)(b): Vatican Palace: Decoration
    • Siena, §III, 3(ii)(c): Palazzo Pubblico decoration, 1355–1555